Straits of Tiran

The Straits of Tiran

The Straits of Tiran rank among the finest attractions of the Red Sea thanks to their crucial historical and geographical importance, their distinctive topography and, of course, their first-rate diving sites. The straits are formed by the island of Tiran to the east, and the Sinai coastline to the west.
The confluence of deep waters, continental plate, and narrow passage creates a bottleneck through which a strong, dense flow of plankton is funneled to the coral reefs associated with these mountain peaks.
A food chain is set in motion which links the plankton, coral organisms and reef fish to the ever ravenous sharks which find easy pickings here. Indeed, this is one spot where it is still possible to encounter sharks on virtually every dive.

Jackson Reef

Jackson Reef is the northernmost of the Tiran reefs, lying about 1km (1100 yards) distant from the island of Tiran. The northern side of the reef is littered with half the hull of the Lara, a Cyprian vessel wrecked here. The other half was salvaged for scrap metal. Most diving takes place on the sheltered southern side of the reef.

The wall at this point is extremely steep. Many narrow canyons weave through it, descending to the base of the reef which lies at an average depth of 25 m (82 feet).

From the mooring point, you will notice that the slope becomes increasingly gentle until it merges with a broad sand plateau in the western corner of the reef .This is a good spot to observe the sharks which tend to cruise past here on a regular basis.

East of the mooring, the slope grows considerably steeper creating conditionsfor an authentic wall dive. Towards the corner, the wall becomes a concave slope.

Pelagic species will be encountered in this area: eagle rays, sea turtles, groupers and stingrays are typically seen. If you are very lucky, you will also sight leopard or guitar sharks.

Gordon Reef

Gordon Reef, the southernmost member of the Tiran cluster, is a crescent lying about 1.3 km (0.8 miles) from the Sinai coastline. A lighthouse located on its western tip marks the channel - a fact which didn't prevent the Loullia, a cargo ship travelling from Aqaba to Suez, from colliding with the reef on 29 September 1981. The Loullia is now an inseparable part of the landscape on the reef's north side. Some of the other vessels which struck the reef at one time or another had a more fortunate fate than the Loullia, and were eventually saved.

Remnants of past collisions are to be found at both ends of the reef: barrels and other debris are scattered around the eastern tip; metal bars around the western tip.

The Wreck of the GIANNIS D.

On the 19th of April 1983, the waters filled the holds of the Giannis D. This Greek ship, with a capacity of 2,900 tons and a length of 99 m, was transporting her cargo from Rijeka to Hodeidah when she grazed the western tip of the Abu Nuhas reef.

The crew was evacuated without injury, But the ship remained half-sunk on the reef for a few weeks untill a storm ripped the Giannis D in two. The stern section sank first, to be followed slightly later by the bow whih became lodged on the bottom of the coral slope. Although two additional inscriptions are clearly visable on the bow- "Markos" and "Shoyo Maru"- this ship was registered at the time of the wreck as the Giannis D.

The Bow of the wreck lies on its port side, in a depth of aproxamatly 20m, whilst the Stern section lies on about a 45 degree angle to its port side in aporximatly 24 m of water. Part of the Bridge structure and masts come to within 4 meters of the surface.